A quick update

Istanbul and the rest of Turkey has settled down greatly.  Protesters have found that they can meet in small groups without being bothered, so meetings in local parks in the evening have become common.  Occasionally, larger protests will break out in Taksim, but the police response has been toned down after the international scrutiny.  This is not to say that the protest movement nor the government's harsh response has lessened.  Erd and his cronies are scanning through all the Gezi and protest related tweets and arresting anyone they deem is a terrorist, after all, these protests were of course the work of terrorists, according to Erd.  They are also demanding that Facebook release all information on their users.  At the moment, Facebook is refusing.  Most likely, Facebook will either be blocked or they will end up relenting.  Out of this social media surfing, a conservative newspaper accused the American teachers at our school for not only bringing students to the protest, but also intimidating those students who refused.  An absurd accusation with not surprisingly, no evidence except for a tweet from one of our grads telling fellow alums to come to Gezi and a picture of a group of our students marching down the streets in Istanbul (not even in Taksim where the protests have occurred) without any sign, shirts, anything showing that they might be protesting.  No teacher was in the picture.


I am officially done with school.  These last few weeks I have been busy attending meetings, my final classes, graduation, and the last good-bye meals for our departing colleagues.  I was able to sneak away for a quick weekend in Buyukada, an island just a short ferry ride away.  In a few days, I head to southern Turkey with my great friend Linda to hike the Lycian Trail.  Then back to the great U S of A for three weeks.  Then back to Istanbul for one more year of teaching.